June 18, 2020 Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] you're just missing two years I think the peasants is there as an attendee yeah I was under a different last name oh there's him now he says he can't change his name until he gets a let in he doesn't think okay but I think there's two of them so maybe that's what yes well I just told him to tell Jennifer to get off so that he will know which one is him thank you it should I think okay and now you can change his name yes I think we're all set good evening everybody welcome it's really nice to see you all it's Thursday June 18th welcome to our last Board of Education meeting of the school year I think we're in our 14th week of distance learning now and just a moment I'm going

002to ask that we all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance as is our custom and then we can look ahead to tonight's meeting agenda if you would all please rise with me to say the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all terrific thank you so much and I'd like to make a motion that will return to public session if I can ask Julia - please second the motion for me Thank You Julia on favor please say aye hi hi thank you so with the board's permission I would really like to start tonight by thanking our community for the incredible support and turnout unconventional turnout though

003it may be in our most recent budget vote and election we received nearly 5,000 ballots in the mail and a huge thank you to Kim Manzon and our team of election inspectors for the project management dedication and fortitude to bring us over the finish line this really was the most extraordinary budget vote and we really want to thank our community for sticking with us through an attenuated budget development process budget adoption process for taking the time to understand our budget and our second proposition and for showing such resounding support a 77% budget approval rating is fantastic and we believe that the budget really is going to prepare Katonah Lewis Perot to meet the needs of our students even in these unprecedented circumstances so thank you again to the administration for the proposed adjustments to the

004budget as circumstances were changing rapidly throughout the past couple of months thank you to Kim and our election inspectors and thank you so very much to the community we have a resolution later in tonight's meeting on the consent agenda but with the board's permission I wanted to suggest that we pull that resolution now and just officially take action on item 12 point oh six I'd like to move item 12 point oh six this is our opportunity to accept the annual budget vote and election results and I'd like to ask somebody to second if I can ask worried a second that thanks thank you and I would also like to take a moment to congratulate bill Rifkin who's here with us this evening on his reelection to the board I'd like to congratulate Catherine Ostreicher on

005her election to the board and I would like to congratulate her willingness to run for the Board of Education for her dedication to our students in her capacity as a PTO leader and for taking the time to speak with us and express her interest in the board so congratulations bill congratulations Catherine and with that I don't know whether there's any further discussion or we can go ahead and vote I'll pause for just a moment in case anybody wanted to say anything I'm not sure if it's the right time for me to say anything but I'll do it anyway I also wanted to thank the community serving on the board is one of the singular honors of my life and I take it very seriously and take the support to heart both those who did vote

006for me and those who didn't I want to be open to all the entire community and represents the best of my ability and thank you thank you though if there's no further discussion then let's please vote on the results of our budget vote and election all in favor please say aye aye terrific thank you so very much thank you so with that I will just pause here for other board announcements if there are additional announcements from board members yes Terrence please I'm RJ thank you so I just want to take a moment to also congratulate bill and Kathryn and I also want to thank Samantha and I think we're really lucky to have three great people genuinely great people dedicated community servants who want to be a part of this work so grateful to them

007all three of them and happy to just have bill another few years and happy to welcome Catherine it just says a lot about our community and I want to thank the community as well passing the budget the budget is a real endorsement of the district's really fine work and I think I would say it's especially important to celebrate these kinds of positives to have the support of our community particularly during this remarkably difficult challenging time the virus has offended so many things and recently the protests and turmoil resulting from the murder of George Floyd personally I'll tell you I was very proud to have my name associated with the statement that was made by the superintendent and the board on June 12 I think it's important to say her name's George Floyd and Brianna Taylor

008and Ahmad Audrey and unfortunately there's another name to add to this list very short books but these names have to be spoken aloud and it's important to say the words black lives matter out loud education plays a huge role in the battle against racial and social injustice and I want to use an example from my own child's experience just a few weeks ago my daughter is in sixth grade she's nineteen perspective and after the murder of George Floyd on her ela teacher mark Grossman you know he diverted his lesson for the day and he really concentrated that day's work on the events that were going on and he did it in a really empathetic broad but emotional and genuine way and it made an impact on my daughter it makes an impact on me as

009a parent and so I thank him and I thank all of our teachers who are sensitive and just really in touch with how important those things are so I just want to say thank you to Andrew the administration and all of our teachers who work so hard every single day to create an environment of culture and a culture of acceptance and inclusivity so Thank You Terrance for those very meaningful words and thank you also for calling attention to our teachers and for thanking them for engaging students in conversation you remind me that it also would be appropriate tonight to congratulate and to thank our humanities research and science research students who have you know had an unconventional opportunity but an opportunity nevertheless to share their work with their families their loved ones with the board

010and with the community and I mentioned that here because many of our students involved in in research whether it's social science humanities research or science research they are already in remarkably mature ways addressing some of the inequities and societal problems plaguing us not just today but historically as well as some of the I'll say global environmental challenges of our time and the faculty who support that research and the students who are involved in two or three years of sustained research really are to be thanked and congratulated for the contributions that they are making already as high school students and in that vein I I just also want to acknowledge and thank some of the great work that's happening and that's being made more publicly available now here sort of at the end you know I

011feel as if there's some some more celebrating of the work that's been happening during the distance learning chapter of the year where our principals administrators generally are doing a great job helping families to really see the work that's gone on behind the scenes with very moving Testaments to the artwork for example that students are engaged in in the middle school there's just been an art show for grades 6 7 & 8 where even in some of the art work where students are being asked to reflect on character strengths in the sixth grade for example and you look out at the words that our students are choosing to engage with artistically words like respect compassion empathy acceptance our staff is doing a really nice job engaging our students in this time and and their work really

012should be celebrated so I thank you for the entree to speak to that are there any other board announcements yes please Liz um I just I wanted to congratulate bill and Katherine and say thank you to Samantha as well I served on the the Parent Council as the liaison and it was wonderful to be able to get to know two of the candidates one of them I knew in the past and they are you know I think we're very lucky to have such active community members I also wanted to say thank you to Skye who will be leaving us and to Aiden who unfortunately doesn't seem to be here this evening for his service to the board this year and I wanted also to acknowledge on the students that sent the letter to the administration

013this week it was very thoughtful thought-provoking eloquent and well done and I think that um you know our administration it's done a wonderful job our teachers have done a wonderful job but I think it's also it was very it was very I was very proud to see our students being so thoughtful and interested in this topic and concerned about how we talk about these issues and and what we teach in our schools so that was really I think a great testament to all of the good work that's being done here Thank You Liz thank you any other announcements from board members if not then Andrew we would love to hear from you tonight please thank you some of what I say will be repetitive tonight but I certainly also won't start by thanking the community

014for your support we're tremendously grateful we always talk about this work as a partnership with the community and really we were wrong in some ways overwhelmed by the show of support yesterday from the community and the result of the receive so we really are appreciative and grateful for that and again congratulations to the world trustees and thank you to all who chose to run it's really important work and we appreciate it and then I also want to share a few words about the letter that Liz just referenced in the words the parents spoke and for those maybe in the audience who don't know about the letter that we received we got a letter of beginning of this week from a large number of current and former students on the topic of racial justice and on

015the experiences that those students either have had or have not had in our schools and about the education that they received or did not receive in our classrooms when it comes to gaining a deeper understanding about the history the lives of and the injustice is directed at black people in our country and I agree with what's already been said that the letter was thoughtful it was eloquent it was reasonable and it called on us to do better and we know that we must be better so thank you again to all those students and graduates who wrote the letter I've already told them that that we've shared that letter with all of our faculty and staff across the district because we think it's important for everyone who works in our schools to read those words and

016I also want to thank those students in our community I wanted to let the student community know that the work of becoming an increasingly inclusive and more thoughtfully and broadly educated organization one that understands and celebrates diversity in all its forms one that speaks out against racism and injustice that this this work is not entirely new to us it's even though we know we've got a lot to learn in a long way to go but for several years we have undertaken initiatives that are intended to further this work from our revamping of classroom libraries and school libraries to include more diverse literature to our work with the organization Facing History and ourselves through our learning cafes on diversity and on the mascot earlier this year and to our efforts to educate ourselves through shared readings

017and conversations with our staff and among the staff those are just some of the efforts and again I acknowledge that they are just the beginning but importantly they are a beginning and they're a base from which we're committed to growing and she and the work this word surely is personal and complex just as it must be systemic and organizational and I want to use myself to illustrate this point typically I avoid talking about myself at all costs but now is a moment for personal reflection tomorrow as I'm sure everyone knows is Juneteenth a day that marks the reading in Texas on June 19 1865 the orders that were finally free all slaves in Texas the last state in the country to take that step and that sentence that I just read comes from the internet

018though I did check a few different sites for the sake of its validity but the point is I didn't learn about Juneteenth in school or in college or in graduate school even though that day has been celebrated in parts of our country going all the way back 1866 I didn't know of it until much later in my life and yet this week my email box my inbox is full of emails telling me all about Juneteenth and providing readings and resources and I've been asked if I would be sending such an email out to our district and I wasn't that very close to doing so and and it I will share it's a it's a quandary for me as to what is the right thing to do and it's something I've been thinking about it a

019lot but rather than move right ahead and send such an email I spoke first with a number of our colleagues in the district colleagues who've been more immersed in anti-racist education than I have been and following that conversation it feels more important at this moment to acknowledge how much I don't know and how much more I have to learn on this topic and on many related topics when it comes to the experience of black people in that country and the fact that I know relatively little on this topic when in so many other areas I'm relatively well educated speaks volumes about the systems and the structures in our country all of those prior organizations that I've come through and been part of and it says a lot about me of course and the work that

020I still have to do to better educate myself more broadly and more deeply so while it would be relatively easy to send an email about Juneteenth and to cut and paste information and resources that have only recently come across my desk and and then recommend them to others I think one of the lessons for me in the last few weeks is that the ongoing work that we have before us and that we will undertake before us won't be easy shouldn't be easy and that we can't wait for expect that someone else will come along to make it easy for us I have to with humility I have to start from where I am today and and address my own learning and I think that's something that we all have to do and everyone in our

021organization has been enormously committed in these last couple weeks to doing that I've been so touched by the conversations that staff have been engaged in on an almost daily basis these last couple of there's been a lot of thought already about where do we go from here and it's not easy there won't be easy to figure out what's next but I think it is important that we again as I said approach it with humility and we work through it together and we work through it thoughtfully while we're doing all of that we're also planning for what we hope is some form of reopening in the fall and we're working to get better at distance learning in case that needs to continue and we're working to ensure the emotional and academic well-being of all of our

022students so our plates continue to be very full but all of this work is of course important and we pledge to move it forward thoughtfully with resolve and not to rush to apply patches that might cover it deficiencies without actually repairing or strengthening them so we again I so appreciate those in the community that have reached out already I've had a number of conversations with parents as well as with graduates as well as current students and that work will continue it has to continue it as we move forward so that's what I wanted to say on that topic for tonight certainly there'll be more to say on future dates but I did also want to mention a couple of other topics earlier also earlier this week our community learned that our students will be engaged

023in a vote on the new mascot next Monday and we've had some questions about that again understandably nothing is simple or straightforward at the moment and I can understand some people wondering why would we be doing that now given all those other things I just spoke about and and we gave that an enormous amount of thought and it's one of the reasons that it hasn't moved forward in fact earlier than today because we were debating given all the other things going on in the world the appropriateness and the timing of that boat in the end we decided that we had made a commitment earlier this year to make the change in the mascot and at this point we know that we can move ahead without taking away from all the other work that needs to

024be done and that's the point that I wanted to emphasize most to the community to the night that the vote on Monday in no way detracts from all the other work that's necessary and important of them all and it also doesn't attract any financial resources from all of the other important work that has to go on as we prepare for finish this year prepare importantly for the summer and the reopening we hope in the fall so we were confident that we could do all of those things at the same time and still finish out this commitment and importantly engage the students who were here with us this year through the debates and give them the opportunity to be involved in this decision for a new mascot on Monday switching topics again extended school year or

025the summer school program for our students with disabilities is something that we've been thinking about a lot the last two weeks since the governor announced that schools across New York State have the opportunity to offer an extended school year program in person this week we surveyed the families whose children are eligible for that program to find out whether they would in fact send their children to an in-person program we at this point we're still continuing to investigate as best we can again it seems to be the theme at the moment nothing isn't easy everything is very complicated we obviously want to do the best that we can for all our students that are reaching the determination of what's best while also what's safe and healthy is complicated and we hope to have a decision I

026would say in the early part of next week on the extended school year program and then finally I wanted to thank everybody who participated in the survey that we ran last weekend until the beginning of this week regarding distance learning we had really a tremendous response to that survey so we have lots of data to be looking through which we will be doing in the coming weeks and months as we look towards the fall so thank you so much to everybody for taking time with that and we did say that we would also be surveying students and we will still be doing that we know there's not a lot of days of school left the survey the students will be a little bit shorter than the one that went out to families but it'll still

027be very important to us we think we'll get that out the students the vania next week will ask them to turn it around fairly quickly because it won't take them long to do it but it will give us great information so in advance we thank our students for taking some time with that and I think those of all of my updates for tonight thank you Marjorie thank you Andrew thank you we really appreciate your thoughtfulness and the invitation to reflect for each of ourselves on where we are and how much we have to learn and really we thank you just for raising awareness and being honest about your own journey with regard to learning about Juneteenth and trust that you've already continued to raise awareness even just by sharing that journey with us tonight publicly

028so we really appreciate that and thank you for the thoughtful updates on all of these topics and for all that's going on to determine what our options are and how to keep students safe in light of ever-changing opportunities and executive orders so thank you for all of that work if there aren't any questions or comments for Andrew then I think we're ready to look ahead to recognition of board trustees and while we're preparing to do that I will just mention since I know we have members of the community who have joined us tonight that shortly after recognition of trustees we will open up our meeting to public forum and as you might know there's a QA option at the bottom of your zoom window and if you could please identify yourself we're not able to

029acknowledge anonymous comments but if you could please introduce yourself and share a comment or remark we will certainly read aloud anything that we receive tonight and then a little bit later in tonight's meeting during board dialogue we have an opportunity to gather our thoughts and to engage in some board discussion so thank you to those members of the community who are waiting to share comments or feedback and thank you for taking the time to be with us here this evening we thought I think we are ready to turn ourselves to now we're at 9.01 which is an opportunity to honor Aiden Melbourne who I'm sorry is not with us tonight but we did have a few words that we were prepared to share on behalf of Aiden's service to the Board of Education and the

030Katonah Lewis borough community so I'd like to ask somebody to please move actually Kim I'm sorry do we need to vote on the proclamations or should I move them or just share the the positive words move them to be voted on yes okay thank you and can I ask somebody to please move the resolution for Aiden moved by Liz thank you and seconded by Scott and then just briefly I wanted to share some words on behalf of the board before Julia kindly reads the proclamation so even when you have the opportunity to review this video of tonight's meeting we want you to know that we're grateful for your service to campus Congress to the Board of Education and the Katonah Lewis borough community throughout the school year you have provided insight and helped us to

031know what's happening across our district and you have respectfully interjected and asked questions during presentations and discussions your contributions helped to reframe our conversations and helped us to reflect on how certain decisions were being communicated or experienced by our students we appreciate your thoughtfulness and your engagement throughout the year we thank you and we hope that you'll stay in touch we hope that you'll help us know what we did well and how we could have prepared you even better for the next chapter of your education we wish you all the very best the best in college and your future endeavors and with that I'm going to ask Julia to plead raise Rito's Proclamation on behalf of the Board of Education thank you to Rio whereas in the spring of 2019 aid in Melbourne was elected

032by his peers at John Jay high school to serve as the student trustee of the Board of Education of the cantonal Lewis borough Union Free School District and whereas ADA in Melbourne was seated as the student trustee of the Board of Education of the Katonah Lewis Borough you knew Free School District on July 2nd 2019 and whereas ADA in Melbourne regularly attended and was always prepared for board of education meetings during the 2019 2020 school year and whereas the Board of Education superintendent and the sistent superintendent's believe the school district has been enriched by the outstanding service that Aden Melbourne has provided during his term of office to the Board of Education and whereas Aiden Melbourne very effectively represented the students at the district of the district at board of education meetings by presenting reports

033pertaining to John Jay high school John Jay middle school kotone elementary increased Miller elementary and meadow pond elementary schools raising questions regarding the recommendations presented to the Board of Education from the administration and whereas it is the opinion of the Board of Education that aid in Melbourne has served the entire Katonah liberal community with distinction through his vision curiosity citizenship service critical thinking and collaboration whereas Eden Melbourne will conclude his service to the Board of Education through attendance at the Board of Education meeting on June 18 2020 and will therefore be missed by the Board of Education superintendent and assistant superintendents now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Katonah Lewis borough Union Free School District hereby dedicates in celebration this Proclamation on the 18th day of June in honor of

034Eden Melbourne and be it FURTHER RESOLVED at this Proclamation be spread across the minutes of the Proceedings of this meeting for all to see and if I can just before we vote just add that it really has been a pleasure to work with Ada and I'm sorry he's not here tonight but I was so heartened by his honest reflections and his thoughtful questions and just a very earnest way of interacting with our Board of Education and I think he represented his fellow students wonderfully and made us all feel really proud that his experiences I'm sure both at home with his family but also as a student in our district really prepared him to be such a successful liaison for the students of Katonah Lewis borough thank you Tony is there any further discussion or comment

035before we vote okay Thank You Aidan all in favor please say aye I got terrific okay thank you so much and this brings us to item 9.02 which is our opportunity to say thank you and goodbye - Scott Posner who served with us on the board of education for the past six years so if I can please ask somebody to move this Proclamation moved by Bill thank you and seconded by Liz appreciate that and Scott in preparation for your last meeting as a member of the Board of Education I've been reflecting on your contributions to the Katonah Lewis Perot and our community over the past six years and looking back I was able to identify two guiding principles that inform your accomplishments and recommendations your legacy to the board so to speak the budget should

036reflect the priorities and values of the organization which is to say kotone Lewis Burroughs promise to its students and to our community and we need to do more with less I'm not sure whether these words your own words will sound familiar since they date all the way back to 2012 during public forum when you were on the other side of the podium but I believe your sentiment then was a pillar and has now become a hallmark of your board service one that resonates with all of us and that has served our students and our community so very well over the past six years on behalf of the Katonah Lewis for a school district and the entire community we sincerely thank you for your dedicated advocacy your commitment to balancing competing priorities your moral compass and

037your occasional sports analogies now we're gonna be counting on bill to carry on this aspect of your legacy we know how proud you are to be part of a community where parents and students care deeply about education and we thank you for representing our community and the needs of our students with thoughtfulness and integrity we wish you all the very best and with that we've got a proclamation for you as well and if you'll allow me whereas the Board of Education of the Katonah Lewis borough Union Free School District recognizes the importance of publication of public education and whereas the Board of Education recognizes the importance of community members volunteering their time and efforts on behalf of the district by serving as school board trustees and whereas Scott Posner has served the district with distinction

038as an exemplary trustee of its Board of Education for the entire six years that he has been a board trustee and whereas Scott Posner has also served as the board's vice president chair of the Finance Committee chair of the Audit Committee and whereas Scott Posner has demonstrated repeatedly and consistently and without fail throughout all of his years of service as a trustee of the Board of Education his dedication and commitment to the education of the students of the district and to the overall welfare of the district and whereas Scott Posner's colleagues on the board of education wish to acknowledge publicly Scott Posner selfless devotion and commitment to the district and the many district successes and accomplishments that are attributable directly to the outstanding efforts by Scott Posner and his capacity as a trustee on the

039board of education and now therefore let it hereby be resolved that the Board of Education of the Katonah Lewis borough Union Free School District hereby declares its appreciation and thanks to Scott Posner for all his work for and on behalf of the district and be it further resolved that this Proclamation be spread across the minutes of the Proceedings of this meeting for all to see thank you Scott and I believe Scott is probably waiting patiently to turn it over to Bill Rifkin please I'll do opening arguments you can do rebuttal so I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words in tribute to Scott as he leaves the board logical or not I feel a special bond with him as we were running mates as it were he elected twice at the

040same time throughout all those candidates nights it always struck me that I made him look good by comparison in elections with more than one spot available this is an important role throughout our six years on the board I cannot remember more than a very hint very small handful of cases where we voted differently and this is not simply during the board unanimity but rather how regularly I was swayed by stas reasoning to modify my gift Scott is a rare combination of intellect and heart if I was disagreeing with Scott I made it my business to check my math he was a he was passionate about the quality of the actual classroom experiences and that opera be preserved for example is consistently advocated for foreign language at the secondary level and smaller class sizes at the

041elementary level so I will miss you the board will miss you and in fact the district will miss you he is more than done his duty so I regretfully wish him well as he rejoins civilian life thank you Scott thank you Bill Scott will let you have the floor before we vote on this Proclamation I appreciate that and I appreciate the very kind words from both of you it will make it will make my my speech will pale in comparison to the words that were just said but I will I will drive on that nonetheless but but thank you very much for those watching and who don't know me my wife and I have lived in district for over 16 years we have a son graduating John Jay high school next week and a daughter

042finishing her freshman year at John Jay I'm going to spend a couple minutes saying a couple very important thank-yous and then take a little stroll down memory lane when I brought home my school board nominating petition a little over six years ago my wife was not happy we both had agreed I would not run I was too busy with work we had young kids who sports schedules seem to be getting crazier and for those that do not remember there was a little bit of turmoil in our district in the spring of 2014 I had been resisting the increasing calls from community members to run for weeks I ultimately changed my mind and eventually my wife reluctantly relented and was in fact the per the first person to sign my nominating petition I went searching last

043week for the best quote I could find out true love the best I could find was true love is choosing the many things a person did right rather than one he did wrong true love does not keep the record of wrongs I like this quote a lot because I have been a lot of trouble with my wife kept a record of all of my wrongs that's that however I did not think this was sufficient so I had to come up with my own true love is supporting your husband when his actions have the greater good in mind and are not what is in the best interest of you and your family she knew my work would just get busier and our sports schedules would go from crazy busy to insane true love is when you

044and your husband are in your house together for only one night in a 13 day stretch in January 2019 because of two work trips college visits and travel sports and on that one night you're supposed to be in your house spending time together your husband takes a car service from the airport from his work trip to his school board meeting and then you have to be the one to pick him up at 11 p.m. to take him home from his school board meeting that is almost but not quite over so he came back to his work emails Thank You Michelle for always supporting me no matter what for the past 29 years my next thank-you is not nearly as personal but it's still very significant I want to thank you the ke ofd community for

045trusting me and allowed excuse me and allowing me the honor and privilege of representing you for these past six years there's no I in board trustee and no individual board trustee has any power I can't say we as a board got it right every time over the past six years I know we did it I hope you agree with me though that the district is in unquestionably a better place than it was six years ago and I thank you for allowing me to play a small role in this improvement as I sit back tonight and think about how I got here personally and how we got here as a district I keep thinking about a phrase I've been reading for years on Passover at my family Seder I have been young and now I am

046old I started out tonight telling you about my high school son and daughter a little over eight years ago when I stepped up to the public for microphone for the first time I started out my speech the same way except then I was talking about my fourth-grade son and first grade daughter at Meadow Pond I'd highlight that night not to make myself feel old what we do but because I was not the only first grade parent that spoke in public forum that night I said I was at the end of a line of five other first grade parents who spoke that night you may recognize the names of some of the others shif Oh Brooke Burke we were there advocating for small class sizes in addition to talking about the need for small class silence

047for our youngest students we also talked about the need for fiscal responsibility one of my comments in public forum was I'm glad it wasn't one of the ones that Marjorie commented on but I am to be a part of a community where parents take an active interest in their children's education I think Marjorie got part of that word forward it never dawned on me that you would have for future board trustees from our little group of first grade parents it may be a little hyperbole but I absolutely believe there is also an element of truth when I say that we went from advocating for small class sizes to changing the course of our districts I said earlier that is that there is no I and for trustee and we certainly did not do anything on

048our own our district has been fortunate to have many excellent trustees helped guide us to where we are today so where are we today we are in an unquestionably better place than we were six years ago and I will give you some facts and statistics to back that statement up despite what many people think the Board of Education has very few responsibilities the two most important ones are hiring a superintendent and approving annual budgets six years ago we had interim leaders at many critical positions including superintendent and we had a community that quite frankly did not have a lot of confidence neither the school board or administration when I was asked back then what I hoped would be the biggest accomplishment at the end of my term I stated the hiring of a long term

049superintendent I talked about the need to bring stability to the leadership of our district the hallmark of a successful organization whether it's a school district a sports team or a public company is stability at the top six years ago we were in the middle of having had five superintendents in less than ten years we are now finishing up five years of Andrew at the helm I said the board has not gotten every decision right these past six years one decision we absolutely got right with that question our most important decision was the hiring of Andrew we also have greatly improved our educational product we have improved our class sizes with the strategic utilization of an increased number of contingency we have added staff developer positions introduced and then enhanced a therapeutic support program built world

050language labs and increased foreign language offerings increased focus on innovation through the introduction of innovation grants expanded our athletic opportunities made numerous improvements to the distance districts infrastructure along with many other improvements to numerous - - left to numerous to detail importantly we did all of this and reduced our tax levy by 0.180 0.18 percent per year for the last six years this is worth repeating our tax payers in the aggregate will be paying less in school taxes in 2020 2021 than they were in 2014 and I think the community is noticed our budget was approved with an average road of 62% in favor in the six years prior to 2014 in the most recent six years our budget has been approved with an average vote of 75% and as Andrew and Marjorie noted earlier

05177% just this week I am proud of all that we've accomplished as a board and as a district these past six years and while I am very much looking forward to being an ordinary citizen again if I'm being perfectly honest leaving the board is a little bittersweet I've enjoyed working with many great people in the administration and on the board and while I could talk at length about so many of you I have already rambled on for far too long so I will only speak briefly about two of you bill you joined the board together and I'm thrilled that you will be around for another three years you are a tireless advocate for our students and our taxpayers you put the community before your own interests as can be clearly seen by your change in

052your mind and running again this spring to provide the board with valuable continuity in the midst of the pandemic and most importantly you pushed me to try to be funnier as I attempted to keep up with yourself Deborah thinking if the Mets make the World Series again I will be sure to come to the VOA meeting to give you score updates from the audience thank you I also want to comment on the other trustee who I had the pleasure of serving with for all of my 6 years on the board it was my extreme good fortune to have Marjorie lead us as president my entire time on the board we are very fortunate as a ditch as a district to have Andrew as our superintendent and I absolutely believe that we are equally as fortunate

053to have Marjorie serving as our president in ways big and small Marjorie's leadership has been critical to our success as a board I will end where I began recounting a story I mentioned a couple of times a public forum before I joined the board at my company we often talk about a three-legged stool one leg represents our stockholders one leg represents our customers and one leg represents our team members if we start to over prioritize one leg over another we will not be successful when I look at our district I also see a three-legged stool one leg represents the district's taxpayers one leg represents the students and one leg represents our teachers and staff I would love to make the student leg the highest priority and have incredibly small class sizes across the board but

054that is not realistic more feasible just like it my company we need all three legs to be given equal priority remember when you have a three-legged stool that is not in balance your stool will crash and then all three legs teachers students and taxpayers will suffer I have every confidence that our board and administration will be doing everything they can next year and the years to come to keep our three-legged stool aligned for the benefit of all of K OSD stakeholders thank you thank you Scott we still have a reclamation not a resolution hanging out on the floor that will hold on in a moment you've given us a lot to think about as is so often the case so thank you for for your kind words and for your careful reflection over your six

055years of service we appreciate that and if there is no further comment or discussion then we can vote on this Proclamation and send Scott on his merry way to life after the board of education all in favor please say aye aye aye terrific thank you so very much Scott thank you thank you and with that this brings us to our opportunity for public forum again we thank members of the community for being with us here tonight and for bearing with us while we indulge in some congratulations and well wishes to board members who are leaving in just a moment we're going to read the comments and questions that have been submitted and please understand that this is our opportunity to really listen to you and to reflect on your thoughts so we're not going to

056immediately respond or engage in any discussion or back-and-forth instead we will then turn our attention to the consent agenda which takes just a moment or two we'll gather our thoughts and then come back for some board dialogue at which time we can enter into some conversation and can speak to the reflections that you've shared with us so first I'm actually going to read a comment that was submitted a bit earlier through an email account that we were also using to collect thoughts and questions for our board of education meetings hello i am alexandra ramsey i was a student at Katonah lewisville district i graduated in 2013 and i care deeply about educating the youth about relevant important topics recently through a gap analysis of the current curriculum in grades K through 5 I noticed a

057few things one the curriculum has a wide range of rigorous content which is excellent however there is a need for culturally responsive practices and ped a lot had pedagogical techniques to ensure all students not just the majority are benefiting from the curriculum or else K LSD could fall into a situation known as the tyranny of the majority a situation in which the majority makes policies or take takes actions benefiting that majority without regard for the minority population therefore I have a few proposed changes one give teachers directives to implement culturally mediated pedagogical practices create an equity audit task force that examines discipline funding access and achievement to incorporate more black Latino Native American and other persons of color voices into the curriculum and queer voices I will be happy to provide more context with my

058proposed changes as I have limited amounts of time to speak today I will also be happy to help be a part of making these changes and I will be following up by June 30th on the consideration and/or progress of these changes so thank you very much to Alexander Ramsey and I can see now that the questions are coming in the comments with some more regularity and so with the board's permission I'm going to ask that Julia help me out here so that we're having an opportunity to just read and familiarize ourselves with the words so that we can read as clearly and coherently as possible so Julia I'm gonna ask you to read the next comment please sure I just want to make sure our views are the same I have a comment from Evan

059Noi yeah thank you I came in at 757 and monoi says as a 2018 graduate the school has done a decent job educating about the misdeeds of the United States but mostly in English English class especially miss ysus classes compared to history and economics classes I think we shouldn't shy away from educating about the misdeeds of the United States in the future terrific thank you and the next comment that I have is from Jane Crimmins at 8:25 I have to leave the meeting for a bit but we'll put my comment here my name is Jane Crimmins and I have a rising fifth grader and a rising 2nd grader at increased Miller I want to take this opportunity to commend the school district for the quality and rigor of instruction provided from what I have noted

060our students and graduates are data-driven collaborative able to form good arguments kind brave and understanding I have been in touch with various administrators teachers and parents over the years about my concerns with our perpetuation of a white privileged culture I have both the skills and the desire to collaborate in the effort to develop an anti-racist curriculum and mindset in the district I now understand that a district-wide steering committee will be formed in conjunction with consultants from NYU I humbly ask to be considered as a member of this committee thank you for your consideration and response this comment is from Minah Shah I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly my name is Meena Shah class of 2012 the mission statement of the Katonah Luis Barroso all districts Board of Education states that its responsibility is to

061focus on creating an educational environment that will help our students become knowledgeable individuals problem-solvers quality producers effective communicators host some individuals collaborative workers ethical individuals lifelong learners and responsible accepting and involved citizens I would be it would be very easy to look at the statements made at last Friday's professional development meeting for students and letter sent to superintendent's Lesnick and shared in the meeting tonight and think that the system is working here are a group of thoughtful community engaged adults produced by our school system however I'd like to make it clear that those who have experienced these traumas myself included have become the successes we are today not because of our experiences in Katonah Luis Barroso school district but despite of that but in spite of them as such and specifically in the context of

062the recent national energy around the movement for black lives our community has a lot of work to do while the personal reflection and learning alluded to Dubai superintendent's Lesnick is all well and good this moment and this movement also requires concrete action on each of our each of your parts as individuals and as a powerful body in the district with that I'd like to address some action items for this specific body to engage in to begin doing that work in every election cycle you must actively seek out candidates of color for the Board of Education the fact that there is only one person of color on this call and that he was the one who brought up the movement for black lives speaks volumes to the ways in which issues of racial equity and anti

063racism pervades every level of governance in our town in addition I implore you to use your power to focus on hiring more teachers administrators and other staff members of color today you are being presented with a plea for change it would be not only unwise to ignore this plea it would be irresponsible the best way to end racism is not pretending it doesn't exist anymore the best way to end racism is an ignoring race entirely the best way to end racism isn't performing token acts of racial placation the best way to end racism we have now is anti-racist education you choose the responsibility you have today as members of the Board of Education and as members of the community I ask you to take that responsibility seriously I understand it's my responsibility to ask for

064this I hope you understand the urgency of your action there have been black body swaying around the country there have been ceaseless violence from Police Department's against persons of color there have been countless students who have contemplated unthinkable actions because of the actions of the adults around them I hope you will all work against this to the best of your abilities and then I think it to shock you I think that some of what you read might have actually been attributed to Sebastian s and I believe there might even be more commentary down below I'm just gonna ask while we're turning our attention to the next comment if Sebastian s could please follow through with his last name so that it's not unknown to us that would be very helpful I think Minna Shaw's message

065ended with we must hold mandatory workshops on weaponizing whiteness white fragility and white supremacy for all white students reserved part of that class period for doing a piece of the reading so that it is required it's required nature is enforced make these a graduation requirement yes you're correct sorry Marjorie no problem we must implement culturally responsive pedagogy throughout our district not just because it will uplift the caliber of our education system but because it is the right thing to do we must allocate appropriate funding to do so our students must leave our school system equipped to understand themselves the world around them and how their actions in actions and language has very real consequences and can cause very real harm to the people around them 29 at 8:29 catherine foley submitted a comment and drew

066our jury yeah Marjorie Mina has one more thing it says further we must immediately cancel all programs that involve trips spaces in formerly colonized spaces that encourage or involve wait Saviour ISM and/or the mining of community experience or data for the sake of learning that's meanest last section thank you for pointing that out and there's actually one more piece of Mina's at 8:30 I hope student and alumni voices are heard and internalized tonight we may have been negligent in shaping our community up to this point but make no mistake we are here now and we are going nowhere anytime soon I personally look forward to making change with you I think that concludes nina Shahs comments I'm going to just scroll up now Julia to catherine foley beginning at 8:29 p.m. okay part one my

067name is Catherine Foley my white affluent family moved to South Salem in 1982 I attended meadow pond and I'm a 1996 graduate of John Jay high school I later was a town reporter for the Lewes borough Leger and a volunteer firefighter with the South Salem Fire Department I'm here today to offer my viewpoint on the deep and broad legacy of racism prejudice and bigotry in the Katonah Lewis borough schools and community and to encourage the board to wake up it is both alarming and tragic that the letter the current students wrote to you this week could have been written absolutely verbatim by my class over 20 years ago this district has willfully kept its eyes closed to these issues for decades and as a result you have thousands of John Day alum out in the

068world who have never once been checked who have never once been checked on their privilege and who continue to uphold and reinforce white supremacy either knowingly or outright part two I remember when I was 16 telling someone I was from a small town in Westchester County and they said oh just one of the most affluent counties in the country it was the first time I was even aware of this it had taken decades it has taken decades of unlearning for me to truly understand and wake up to the implicit bias and harm I have perpetuated every day in my whiteness and how deeply I have benefited from systemic racism my entire life how many more students do you want to graduate who will only go on to bring the world more suffering more oppression and

069more violence it is your duty to stand up now with clear to size and courageous leadership to dismantle the enduring intergenerational racism and inequity in your schools yes hire the consultants and the experts from the conformant committees and put all the bureaucratic wheels in motion that this will require but each one of you personally needs to stay out loud specifically where you are on this part three that you stand with black lives matter and the movement for black lives that you are committed to uprooting racism in the schools you oversee and to uplifting and centering your voices the voices and lived experiences of your black minority and marginalized students in perpetuity you need to provide the community with specific resources so they can begin to do the crucial personal and internal work of anti racism

070you need to provide immediate mental health support and resources for your current black students you need to provide faculty students and Families a mandatory anti racism summer reading list for every age group right away you need to suggest ways your community can support the movement with their direct donations and get involved locally this summer you need to say their names you need to commit to hearing the voices of student and alum divest who are way smarter than you when it comes to this work part four and you need to wholeheartedly and fully commit to long-term ongoing anti racism evaluation and implementation for every generation to come ensuring that this work will be maintained and upheld past year 10 years address this head-on address this boldly address this with the conviction of your heart and a

071deep unquenching thirst for justice thank you you're muted Julia I'm gonna read Sebastian ass it's gonna take me a minute to go from he is his name is Sebastian Singh from the class of 2014 Thank You Singh and I'm gonna go back up so Sebastian asked and I apologize for reading this previously under Nina's today you'll be presented with a plea for change it would not only be unwise to ignore this plea it would be irresponsible the best way to end racism is not pretending it doesn't exist anymore the best way to end racism is an ignoring race entirely the best way to end racism is performing is a performing token acts of racial placation the best way and racism now is with anti-racist education you choose the responsibility you have today as members of

072the Board of Education and as members of the community I asked you to take the responsibility seriously I understand it's my responsibility to ask you for this I hope you understand the urgency of your action there have been black bodies swaying around the country there have been ceaseless violence and police departments against personal persons of color there have been countless students who have contemplated unthinkable actions because of the actions of the adults around them I hope you all work against this to the best of your abilities and I'm just gonna scroll and see I think I I do not hope so because I want you to sleep well and I hope because I don't want more children to suffer nor more people to suffer their suffering is real your actions must be real as well

073believe thank you I think that brings us to Jeremy's it imir at 8:30 part 1 of 3 hi everyone my name is Jeremy's it imir pronouns he him I graduated class of hundreds of John J high school alumni participated in a highly emotional call with teachers and administrators last Friday where black alumni alumni of color and alumni from marginalized communities shared scores of traumatic experiences a que LSD that permanently affected them the mental and physical health effects of childhood traumas like the ones described on that call are severe and unambiguously accepted by social psychologists and as we learned last week they are felt widely by the students of our district disproportionately so my black students on students of color this is not just a social issue for us this is a health crisis many of

074us are just now entering into conversation with que LSD about how to tackle these issues understandably it will take weeks or months for many of us to identify the best ways to heal our community build an atmosphere of equity for our students going forward but having witnessed extensive relentless even well-intentioned push back to equity overhauls in corporate settings the reason I'm writing here this evening and what I would like to know from the Board of Education is what systems the Board of Ed plans to create and leverage to hold teachers administrators and the BOE itself accountable to anti racism in our schools what dedicated recurring forums can community members use to maintain a consistent conversation on anti racism with the leaders and educators of our district what systems of administrator and teacher evaluation do we

075plan to leverage to ensure they deliver on any new k LSD initiatives and how do we ensure that many of these initiatives are mandatory not opt in what channels can community members use to raise concerns about school and staff and leaders who display racism homophobia and similar bigotry on campus or online by what date can the community expect an in-depth concrete BOE plan to tackle racism and inequity in our schools in the coming school year whose experiences and opinions do you plan to solicit as you decide what our goals of anti racism in our schools will look like well the BOE commit tonight to diversifying the employees of our district and diversifying the BOE itself i've been heartened by impassioned messages from district leaders from the last few days and i thank you for your

076continued work but I know that those messages of gratitude and good intentions are not enough on their own I would like to hear your thoughts on the kind of questions I've raised above and where this accountability will come from I'm gonna read something from Elena Schneider thank you to all the members who have served and are stepping down it is clear this board really listens to one another learns and grows for the good of the district the district hasn't taken important steps towards beginning a discussion on diversity equity and inclusion I am personally interested and believe others are as well and taking this to the next level with implementing anti-racist education and policies in the school at all levels including elementary schools as well as a community-wide dialogue around these issues I would be happy

077to join any groups working on this I'm Fiona wise heart hello my name is Fiona wise heart I graduated John Jay high school in 2016 I agree that our curriculum should not shy away from the misdeeds of the United States I did not learn in my history classes about American eugenics and only learned an incomplete and sanitized version of slavery the Asian exclusion act concentration camps and of the civil rights movement when students graduate high school they graduate as adults we must prepare them to act as such they are voting getting jobs and making changes in the world pardon me it's the school's job to prepare students for the adult world and right now John Jay high school does not do so and then I just as a follow-up Alexander Ramsey who had sent an

078email said I humbly asked to be a part of any change tasks for that that the BOE creates Thank You Julia for your help and thank you to members of the community for your guidance and [Music] respectful commitment to this work and to the education that we provide in Katonah Lewis borough I'd like to just pause for a moment because certainly if somebody had intended to share a comment or a question but we haven't acknowledged it I'm gonna watch the Q&A momentarily just to see if the number increases before we move on and as I mentioned please understand that we are reflecting on all that we've heard and we'll have an opportunity for board dialogue in just a few moments in the interim because I don't see any further activity in the QA I'd like

079to suggest that we now move forward with the consent agenda that's our next item of business we're at 11 point oh one I realized I already pulled item 12 point O six which was our opportunity to accept the budget vote an election results so thank you for that I'm going to now move the consent agenda without item twelve point oh six if somebody would please second it for me seconded by Scott thank you and I don't think we need to vote separately on any other items but I did just want to pause for a moment to invite discussion on several of the items in the business matters portion of the consent agenda because tonight is our annual opportunity to revisit our reserve funding and I wanted to ask Danelle to please just share with us

080an overview of the transactions that we're going to approve or that we have the opportunity to approve in just a few moments if you would please to know sure Thank You Marjorie thank you so resolutions 14 point oh four through fourteen point one one represent changes to our reserves we're using utilizing four for curb reserves to help offset the 2021 tax levy the debt service will offset the tax levy by $10,000 the employee benefits accrued liability for $252,000 retirement Reserve of four hundred sixty three thousand dollars and our unemployment reserve for twenty five thousand those four reserves total seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars as you're aware we are offset in a tax levy by three million two hundred thousand dollars so seven hundred and fifty thousand of this will come from those reserves they

081just spoke about and the remaining two million four hundred and fifty thousand is offsetting the levy by surplus that we have the second part of these resolutions is setting the limits for our reserves we typically set the reserve limits in the last meeting of June as we are obligated to set these reserve limits before we set our tax levy we will be sending our tax levied later on in at the end of the month in July all of the Reaser limits are set in a manner that ensures compliance with our appropriate regulations during our external audit these amounts will be reviewed by Bono geo group to make sure the limits are set in an accurate manner thank you very much to know and thank you to the entire business department business team for all that

082went into preparing these resolutions and recommending these allocations tonight this is a significant amount of work and we really appreciate the opportunity to vote on these resolutions are there any questions for Janelle or for David if nothing if I could just briefly also take this opportunity to thank you David for being with us this year and perhaps this is gonna be the last resolution that we vote on that has your fingerprints on it and we really appreciate you being willing to serve in Katonah Lewis borough with us for this year of the year of transition and we came to rely quite heavily on you and we wish you all the very best and thank you for your service to the district if there are no further comments or questions then I think we can vote

083on the consent agenda so all in favor please say aye all right great okay thank you very much and this brings us to 16 point o 1 which is a resolution for a gift so just bear with me for one minute please tonight we have a couple of generous donations so I will move this resolution this is sixteen point oh one can I ask for a second please second seconded by Julia okay thank you and we have a donation in the amount of $22 $22 and 30 cents from Box Tops for Education for John J middle school and a donation in the amount of $1,300 from Daniel Milstein photography misses a video drone service for our 23rd 2020 highschool graduation at the Jefferson Valley Mall services are weather permitting for our class of 2020 and

084if there's no further discussion then we can vote on these resolutions all in favor please say aye all right ok thank you so much for these generous gifts and this now brings us to 17 point o 1 which is our opportunity for board dialogue not sure whether any board members had other topics that they brought for tonight's meeting or if not this would be an opportunity to enter into some board conversation and with our administrators around the feedback that we heard and some of the requests that we heard and I invite my board colleagues to open the floor to you yes Lori thanks Thank You Marjorie Wow we opened up on a topic of sort of self-reflection and while I took Andrew's words to heart I was really touched by what Nina and Jeremy and

085Sebastian and Fiona and Jane and others said and I was not privy to the bit called last week but I do understand that a lot of people raised substantial concerns last week in in a meeting I think it was on Friday I just want to say I'm really encouraged that the community is stepping up and in this time of sort of national and maybe even global crisis I feel like we are all on the same page I completely agree with what everybody wrote in those comments and I'm passionate and angry about what's transpired and what has been transpiring for so long in our world and as I'm learning in some cases in our school district I find it completely unacceptable and and I'm happy to represent members of the community with their concerns in carrying

086out whatever needs to be carried out to make change I don't know enough about what happened but I will endeavor to learn more and to assist the board and the community to take whatever changes are necessary to to work forward I do think that there's an opportunity for for us to be more representative on the board but I would just like to say that that's entirely up to the public and to the community it would be great if people of broader diversity ran for four boards membership and I and I hope that this might actually sort of encourage people next year and future years to come and represent the broad community that to me is something that's very much up to the community rather than to the board but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments

087that have been shared here and I from from my point of view I will do anything I can to support any initiatives including anti racism education in our schools and so forth so I just wanted to put that out there that I'm fully supportive of the sentiment and stand ready to to assist in any way I would like to also just make a comment I I the the the gaps in kind of our understanding of our own country's history I think is something that really kind of struck me and especially after mr. solos Nick brought it up there are gaps and and sometimes you know I well I was thinking about this I picked up the AP US history textbook and and there's definitely things that aren't covered in ways that really I feel like

088help students genuinely understand maybe where we do have some gaps in our knowledge and gaps or we can't see and and and some of these things are go far beyond que el se but I think that getting this feedback from the students and former students that we heard tonight is very helpful and how we approach the things that we're going to need to do and and one suggestion in particular which I feel like is something that we could do even just right now is is develop a summer reading list where we can encourage some of our students who may not be able to have jobs or do their normal summer things they have a little time on their hands and maybe we can use that to you know great impact this summer I have nothing

089to original or groundbreaking to say other than I certainly agree with the ethos and the spirit behind all these comments and I I think that an approach is going to be a lot of fact-finding investigation finding information learning listening I think a lot of listening and a commitment to act as needed but that the community should feel comfortable that the you know the board has heard you and takes these comments very seriously yeah I guess I'd like to reinforce what what Bill is saying and I think I'd like to just really share how proud I am of this forward and I think this board tries as best we can to really look carefully and closely at issues and don't shy away from them and have made decisions even this year to change things that we

090thought were not right within our school I think that I was talking to my son's the other day when I was in college in 1995 in upstate New York I volunteered in a Youth Corrections Facility I'm certain it was because of my white privilege that I was allowed to volunteer in a facility of teenage boys primarily of color from Brooklyn and the Bronx who were in facilities upstate and I really witnessed some of the impact of racial profiling and and the acts of things that happen in this country that unfortunately have kids on a track that doesn't support their learning and I was so inspired by that that I did I went on to do research on sociology and education and sort of that dynamic between how do we create an educational environment where people

091see themselves and our and our education reflects their history so and that was 25 years ago and we're still talking about it today so there's so much work to be done and it's unfortunate that it's you know taking so long for this work to happen but I'm very very inspired by the groundswell of people who are activated right now and interested and and I hope will continue to remain activated and interested so that words of Education like ours who are trying to address some these issues have the community support that we need in order to make changes that will serve the community well and I'm confident that our community is capable of doing that and I hope that we're able to join with our community as we move forward to really look at ourselves and

092our district and continue the work that I think andrew has so thoughtfully started through his leadership and through this board's leadership and and I thank all of you for speaking tonight and really you know that you know I a hundred percent hear you and support everything that's happening in this country around moving forward a black lives matter voice so that we can create a more equitable society so thanks for speaking tonight and know that you know this is a very thoughtful and committed board that I think is with you 100% and we have wonderful leadership and you know all of our district leaders to try to help move forward whatever we can as quickly as possible as we work to address you know unfortunately another you know plague of our country right now which is

093a pandemic and so balancing all of those needs is really important and I I trust that we can do you that Thank You Julia I wanted to just revisit a question that was asked about accountability and concrete steps or actions that could be taken either in response to what we're hearing or in response to the groundswell of support for action rather than passivity and a couple of things that come to mind just when I think about you know what is really in the purview of the Board of Education and this comes back to a couple of comments that were made earlier today in another context but we have board policy that inspires and governs our work starting with our mission policy zero zero zero zero which provides just an opportunity to go back to basics

094and oftentimes at the beginning of the school year the Board of Education will go back to basics and rededicate itself to board goals or revisit board goals and as was mentioned in a recent communication that went out to our students who submitted an open letter you know we have faithfully adhered to a leadership goal centered around inclusivity and our educational philosophy and mission statement board policy zero zero zero zero does talk about our belief that opportunities for success and expectations for achievement should be equitably available to all students regardless of gender ethnicity race learning styles or socio-economic background and then goes on to outline in further detail some of the beliefs I mentioned that here not because I think it's sufficient or perfect but because that to me seems like a starting point for a

095conversation that could be had in our policy subcommittee where maybe there's an opportunity to revisit the language that has served us for the past ten years and maybe 20 20 21 is an appropriate time to revisit the language of the educational philosophy and mission statement of Katonah Lewis burrow in addition just going to standards and accountability I think it's important to mention that in evaluating the work of our superintendent who then evaluates the work of other building leaders one of the seven standards of evaluation is ethical leadership and I think there are some very useful indicators that can be used to that are used to evaluate how we're doing and what we're doing through the lens of ethical leadership so I did want to provide the reassurance that this is not a new concept to

096the Board of Education or I presume a new concept to our superintendent or our other building leaders or faculty and that routinely people are evaluated on their their ethical practice and and leadership and we have high expectations around ethical leadership of all staff members so I did just want to mention that there are a couple of concrete policies and exhibits that do speak directly to some of the challenges and suggestions that are being made this evening and you know we're certainly we can revisit our policies are our tools to ensure that there is strongly-worded and as reflective of the important work that we have undertaken and hope to strengthen and improve those are just a couple of things that occurred to me you know thinking about what we have at our disposal as a Board

097of Education to look at to think about and how to inspire action other thoughts or comments Terrence yes true I mean I'm blown away and everyone knows I have a big mouth and I'm kind of speechless so I just want to you know I'll start by saying thank you to all the folks who engage with us tonight who have been you know who have just taken it upon themselves to be a part of this and to make sure that we hear them right and we certainly do so okay so start with the thank you and I'm really just again I'm blown away with how passionate and how just really sophisticated and and so well thought through and thorough and really I'm gobsmacked by by that I shouldn't be but I am that's not always the

098level of dialogue these days as we know so you know I appreciate the calls for action related to curriculum so I'm the university administrator and I'm a professor and so curriculum pedagogy means a lot to me and so I wholeheartedly agree that this is an area within you know whatever purview we have within the district you know will public school district there are certain things we have to do but we're you know we can expand where we can be more ambitious I'm very committed to working with our board and the administration to try to find ways to do that you know the diversity of our town and the student body it's changing you know and I think it is incumbent upon us unfortunately it comes on the heels and get another and another and another

099horrifying senseless brutal tragic murder to kind of shove and push and drag us here but we're here you know when I was running for the board a couple of years ago and you know I don't have a leg to stand on in terms of the work done for the district but you know one of the things those that was and is important to me is diversity and I was talking to a friend and he said when he lives in town and said but how does a community that is not diverse teach itself to become diverse and I thought wow you know and he didn't say it in a kind of negative regress away was really a very kind of I thought deep philosophical question right you know we're in this echo chamber so to speak

100we're at a very comfortable zone but I would say that this is how it happens and again it's it's it's really sad that events had to happen that bring us here but this is how it happens and this type of engagement is how we will do that work you know I'll echo a little bit of what Marjorie said and just to state and you know I've had the pleasure and privilege of working with this group of administrators in this board for the past couple years and I can say unequivocally you know we do care you know we absolutely care as professionals as human beings we care and we do as a district have we have policies and procedures in place we are doing certain kinds of work that are invisible into the public eye so

101I I just don't want there to be this sense of like you know we don't do anything we don't care about that at all we absolutely do care and there is good work being done you know and I'm gonna say that changing the mascot is an example of that the board did not have to go after that the administration did not have to go after that but it was important to the board it was important for the administration and we went after that issue and I think the administration handled it as in a sophisticated and the skilful manner as possible with incredible compassion and understanding for every side that came forward so not to say we're gonna hang our hats on that but that was driven by the same ethos and passion that I think

102pushes this dialogue now and you know it's not enough there is more that can and should be done absolutely we all know that everyone knows that and I would say that there are going to be ups and downs they're going to be chances to do things there's gonna be pushback when we start to do the things that we're talking about now it may not start tomorrow it may not start in a month or two months when we start to do them there will be pushback and we'll be ups and downs black people have been enslaved in America for more years and they have been free in America and so the past is the pessimist and me with biracial children says I don't know in my lifetime if I will see the full unquote end of

103racism I don't know if work will ever be complete in my lifetime but I think you know we have a group here in our administration and on board that I firmly believe is committed to that kind of work you know it's so easy in the town like this to think it's not our problem because we don't have a lot of people of color living in this town you know but it is what it is and this is the kind of pressure in this engagement you know how many say I like it right because people are upset we're upset everyone's upset about what's happening right now that's why we're here but it's good pressure it's the pressure that we want we need to accelerate this kind of work so I like my fellow board members time

104I'm ready to roll up my sleeves do the things that we need to do in any way shape or form to help the administration and to help our community to advance because it's necessary for us now it's gonna be necessary for our kids and our kids kids and so forth so I just appreciate folks being here Thank You Terrance thank you everyone Andrew were you waiting to say a few words yeah thanks Marjorie again I don't I don't know that I can add but I do think it's important to acknowledge that we're listening and and to let the people know who made comments tonight that they've been heard and heard loudly and clearly and the fact that we may not be announcing plans tonight in response to some of the comments in no way shape

105or form means that we're not listening in fact I think it's all the more important given the lack of diversity on the screen tonight that we take time to engage with other people to think through how we move forward together and I appreciate the offers that have come in and will be taking people up on those offers and we'll be working together that's that was I know I didn't say all that artfully but that's the point I was trying to make at the beginning this evening with my in my approach to thinking about a letter for the community and and that letter was to accompany a reading list and then an article was shared with me about some of the problems with turning with white people turning to reading when things are difficult in the

106world around us that reading itself is not sufficient and we need to think about what more action we can take than that so I think it's important that we be open to listening very open to listening and thinking through the most thoughtful and sensible approaches and and doing it in ways that are inclusive of all the different voices that we have around us so I'd like everybody else I think the very thoughtful participation of these community members we've been we always again say we want to be a partnership with our community when we did the learning cafe on diversity a couple years ago it was one of our better attended learning cafes which was very gratifying so it was clear even then and this was long before the current crisis that they were as it

107was interested in the community and it's clear that that continues and we will be tapping that interest so thank you to those folks and I'm sure others will come along too and the work will move forward we're committed to that Thank You Marjorie thank you Andrew thank you again to members of the community for sharing your perspective and for your thoughtful feedback and remarks this evening for your patience if there aren't any further comments or remarks from board members or members of the administration then I think we're ready to look ahead I do actually want to make a totally different comment but just didn't know when was the right time please this is shifting gears completely and it's going back to the thank yous that we were making earlier and thanks to the new-made to

108Dave I don't I don't want tonight to end without me having a chance to say thank you Dave to you this is to Dave Quatro she our interest for business who I spoke to maybe it was a little bit more than a year ago today when I spoke to Dave about the possibility of coming to the district and of course at that time neither of us had any idea at all of the year that lay ahead and in fact I would imagine that Dave probably thought to himself oh well that's a very well managed financially well-managed district and maybe it would be relatively straightforward with them there for a year and continue managing the finances little could we know about what was to come and so I we're incredibly grateful to have had Dave and

109his experience through what turned out to be the most turbulent year that any of us have probably experienced in education and it's been Dave calm presence and guidance and knowledge of the world of finance helped us through and how to hear the budget that was so overwhelmingly supported by the community yesterday so Dave I can't thank you enough and thank you for also I know continuing to support Danelle in her work and helping her to continue preparing for the role that she will now assume so thank you for helping us with that transition also and really thank you for being with us I can't say enough thank you David and thank you Andrew for those kind words so this brings us to 18 point no 1 which is our opportunity to look ahead to future

110meetings and at the moment we have just one scheduled meeting for July 9th which will be the opportunity for the board to participate in its annual reorganization meeting and this is when we will welcome our new board member and bill will have the opportunity to be sworn in so to speak to serve another term and that brings us to 19 point oh one which is our opportunity to adjourn I'm going to suggest that we adjourn back into executive session to discuss the employment history of an individual if somebody could please second that for me seconded by Rory thank you and just quick logistic note that we have a zoom logistic piece of information in our email that we can use to access that meeting it's the same zoom link that we've used in the recent

111past so thank you so very much again to members of the community for joining us tonight for speaking with us and thank you so very much to our entire Katonah Lewis borough community for the terrific support of our budget and proposition 2 we sincerely appreciate that we look forward to doing even better in the next school year and thank you so very much so may I ask us to please vote on the motion to adjourn all in favor terrific have a great night everybody thank you very much see you in July take care